Stronger Than She Looks
by LilyRaeK
Summary: Sousa's house has been broken into and he needs a place to stay the night...
**Hey guys! I'm doing something a little different that I've been working on for a while now. I'm using a list of '100 Ways To Say I Love You' as a prompt for a bunch of fanfictions. Some will be used together but if anyone wants to use the list or read what may be coming up, I'll put the list in my bio on my profile. Just a warning, they will all be from different fandoms!**

 **22\. "It's not heavy. I'm stronger than I look."**

 **26\. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."**

STRONGER THAN SHE LOOKS

Just his luck. The chairs were upturned and the door was broken in. What did it say about him that he no longer felt safe in his own home? Sousa's day had just gotten even longer when he realised the mess that these intruders had left behind for him to clear up.

Wearily, he rubbed one hand through his hair and down over his face, taking deep breaths to calm his anger. Limping slightly, more exaggerated than normal, Sousa grabbed his jacket and his wallet and headed out of the now ruined door, crutch in hand.

It wasn't long until he arrived at what he now thought of as Peggy's house despite it being Stark's truly. He knocked on the front door and waited for an answer only to find Peggy carefully walking down the hall to peer at this late night visitor.

Despite her distinct lack of curls as they were tied back, she still managed to look beautiful to Daniel. He was mesmerized by her jade silk nightgown tightly crossed over her front. He gave a small smile when she caught eyes with him but he could see on her face that she had noticed a change in his regular demeanour. Her brow furrowed in worry as she opened the door.

"Daniel, what are you doing here? It's almost midnight." Peggy whispered as not to wake Ana and Mr Jarvis.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. I was wondering…" He trailed off, ashamed that he had not realised the late hour sooner. He rubbed his hand over his face once more. "I'm sorry to be such a pain, Peg, I'll let you get back to bed," With that, he turned and began to walk down the path again.

"Daniel, come back, there's obviously something playing on your mind. Come in and tell me what's wrong." She moved slightly out of the doorway and gestured him in.

Sousa followed her to the kitchen where she started to make a pot of tea for them both in order to warm him up after his walk there. Sousa made his way over to a stool in the kitchen with a heavy limp, something that did not go unnoticed by Peggy but she believed it best to approach the subject later after she knew the premise of his arrival.

Her mind caught in thoughts was finally pulled back when she heard the tea pot whistle indicating that it was done boiling. She was clearly distracted by her thoughts but similar to the way she had reacted, Sousa left it until a more appropriate time. Taking the two mugs, Peggy led the way to a small lounge area where she sat on the sofa, Sousa following suit heavily.

Peggy set the mugs on the table and pretended not to notice when Sousa winced as he sat. She curled her legs up underneath her in a very unladylike manner than she would never profess to do in front of anyone but Daniel. She looked up expectantly and turned slightly pink when she noticed he was already smiling at her.

"Are you sure you're quite alright, Daniel?"

"Yes…no…well, I'm not sure if I'm completely honest, Peg." He rubbed his hand over his face again, an action Peggy had noticed had become quite the nervous reflex. He sighed and continued, "My house was broken into this evening." He mumbled.

"Oh Daniel, that's awful," She placed her hand over his and he turned his over so that their palms touched. "You must stay here for as long as is needed,"

"Peg, I coul- "

"Oh, honestly, Daniel, don't be such a child," she reprimanded. "Of course you can stay here, I would hope you would know that it was not necessary to ask,"

"Thanks Peg," Daniel heaved a deep sigh and repositioned himself on the sofa wincing again.

Peggy frowned, concerned for her friend's well-being. "Daniel, are you okay? Is it your leg? I know you don't enjoy breaching the subject but if it's hurting you, I won't be offended for you to take it off."

Daniel looked pained as he glanced up at her and then back down to where she presumed his prosthetic finished. He eventually finished his internal turmoil and began to roll up his trouser leg. The tips of his ears began to redden as he was determinedly keeping his eyes on his work. Sure, he'd dealt with this for two years now but he was still ashamed of his 'little problem'. Peggy was shocked to see the angry white scars of the shrapnel still present at the top of his leg, she had noticed that these were a lot worse than the ones that littered his arms.

Daniel removed his prosthetic and began to roll his trouser back down. Peggy picked up the prosthetic to lean it against the table.

"Peg- "

"It's not heavy. Honestly, Daniel, I'm stronger than I look…there. Now, tell me what happened,"

So Daniel did. He gave her a blow by blow account making sure to leave out nothing for he knew Peggy would question him later. When he finished, Peggy sighed and he watched as her face dropped in sadness. Then, she did a very unPeggy-like action and reached across for his hand, intertwining their fingers and stroking the back of his hand with her thumb. Daniel smiled at her and noticed that there were tears in her eyes.

"Peg, you okay?"

She cleared her throat, "Yes, of course, come on, let's get you cleaned up, shall we?"

She left the room and returned with a small medical box. She gently cleaned out the cut above his left eye and placed a bandage over it to keep it from infection.

"If you have a blanket, I would be quite happy to sleep in here,"

"Nonsense, I won't let you sleep so near to the door after what you've been through today. You shall sleep in my room so that should they come, we have protection,"

Daniel turned red in the face but was able to use his crutch along with Peggy's aid to slowly make their way to her room where he sat on the edge of her bed as she fumbled around for a spare blanket of some kind. Upon retrieving the blankets, she returned to the side of the bed and placed them next to him.

She disappeared to the bathroom and when she returned her eyes were studiously avoiding him as she pretended she was intently interested in the floor. She sat next to him, her head still down. Daniel lifted her chin with two gentle fingers. Her face turned rather red as he realised that this was a Peggy he had never seen: one without makeup, not even a red lip.

"You're still beautiful you know," And without giving her time to respond, Daniel kissed her tenderly and slowly. Their affection was no longer being restrained and they were both joyous.

When the sun broke through the curtains the next morning, Peggy opened her eyes. She gazed up at the beautiful man that she had spent the night with and was just as joyous in that moment as she had been last night.

She kissed his lips gently and watched as he stirred. He slowly cracked his eye open and then his face broke out in a large grin.

"Come on, Chief, we have work to do," She winked as she got up and made her way into the bathroom for the day's events.

Daniel sighed, he hoped every morning from now on would start like this.


End file.
